Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. - It took Head Coach Dustin Wood's squad five sets, but the Georgia Southern Volleyball team improved to 2-0 in the Southern Conference after a 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 25-23, 20-25, 10-15) win over the UNCG Spartans at Hanner Fieldhouse Saturday.

Georgia Southern (14-2, 2-0 SoCon) won the odd number sets while UNCG (8-7, 1-1 SoCon) took the even ones in the first five-set match of the season.

"All preseason, we put together five-set situations, and I felt like we handled it well," said Wood. "We were hesitant in the fourth set, and that caused us some trouble. We played loose in the fifth set, and I'm glad we pulled through because it's something we'll learn from."

The Eagles opened the match with a 25-18 win in the first set, the largest margin of victory on the afternoon. Tied 1-1 after two sets the Eagles found themselves tied 23-23 in set three. Jamie DeRatt and Katie Bange both tallied kills on the next two rallies to give GSU a 25-23 win. The Eagles went on to win the decisive fifth set 15-10.

GSU's .170 attack percentage was below their season average of .241, and UNCG out-hit the Eagles with a .183 percentage. Nicole Jeschelnik and DeRatt tallied double-doubles in the match. Jeschelnik posted 16 kills and 14 digs, while DeRatt had 15 kills and 13 digs.

Morgan Freeman led the Spartans with 17 kills and posted a .533 attack percentage. On the defensive end Katherine Santiago led all players with 28 digs. Karrian Chambers added 27 digs.

Georgia Southern returns to the court on Oct. 1 against The Citadel. The match begins at 6 p.m. and is a GATA game. All Georgia Southern coaches, student-athletes and staff members will be in attendance on Tuesday.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.